“Yeah,” he sighed. “When we’re done, we’re returning home and claiming the thrones. I still want that,” he rushed out. “But it still sucks saying goodbye.” I hadn’t even thought about that. When I’d decided to only befriend Julie, it had been because I knew I had to find my soulmatch and then search for more mages. I hadn’t even thought about leaving her here.
“Atleast I never have to leave your side,” I said, needing it to be said out loud. He wasn’t getting away from me. Not ever. I’d waited too long for him and he was so much more than I’d ever anticipated, ever even dared hope for. Literally my soulmatch.
Amusement, love, and still a touch of sadness came from Niam, telling me he wasn’t against the idea of staying with me forever. I hadn’t been worried—okay I had been a little worried he would change his mind. It was hard getting what I’d dreamed about, fearing that it could be taken away was normal. It was human.
“We should get some sleep,” I said, swallowing a yawn. I was struggling to remain awake, my body needing even more rest now that the magic was recharging, and I knew Niam felt the same.
“I’ll grab a wet towel,” he said, disappearing into the bathroom. I was asleep before he even returned, smiling as I drifted off.
Chapter 17
Niam
There was a heavy weight on top of me, almost suffocating me in my sleep. Xarius? I blinked my eyes open and almost screamed. A freaking snow leopard was asleep on top of me. I wasn’t kidding. I dared look to the side and saw Xarius was awake and if his huge eyes were any indication, he, too, hadn’t seen this coming.
Movement from the other side had both our attention, and this time, Ididscream. A freaking ostrich. Yeah, anostrichwas standing beside the bed, staring at us. My scream startled them both, and theleopard rushed down the bed and…protectedme? The ostrich ran around in what appeared to be circles. It wasn’t the biggest room.
Xarius’s arms wrapped around me, holding me close as we watched the animals calm down and realize that there wasn’t any danger. Then the leopard jumped back onto the bed and, like a small house cat, began circling the bed until he found a spot he deemed acceptable. Which was basically most of the bed. His tail hit me in the face, the only clear proof I wasn’t dreaming this.
“Um, did you?” Xarius asked behind me while I stared at the ostrich as it looked around the room calmly.
“Why would I have anything to do with them?!” I whisper-shouted.
“Well, it wasn’t me!” he whispered back, holding onto me tighter. “Wait… I remember something my mom said about familiars, strong animals that protected the mages and helped them fight, too.”
We both looked at the animals. “So, they belong to us?” I asked, getting weirdly giddy over the thought of getting a familiar.
“I believe so, yes.”
“How the fuck are we going to get them in the van?” I asked, finally realizing the situation we were in.
“Um, maybe they can be summoned, like those mages that learn to call upon small animals.” It wasn’t hard to learn and the animal would need to be summoned to the mages side every week. They were made entirely of magic, making them self-sufficient. I knew if they ate, they could stay for longer before being resummoned, and the same happened if they slept like a normal pet did. If we could figure out how to make them disappear and reappear at will, then it would make our life on the road much easier.
“We need to practice our summoning magic before we can leave this hotel room.” I was starving, my new magic taking whatever it could to fuel itself, and that meant the burger from yesterday was long gone.
“And here I thought we would have plenty of morning sex,” Xarius grumbled.He was too adorable.
Getting out of bed was hard with the big cat taking up all the space, but I managed to get out from the warm covers. I searched the floor, still wary of the huge bird that was staring intently at me as I looked around the room, bare assed, after some clean clothes.
“You know,” he began, blatantly ogling me as I continued my search. “This isn’t helping the no morning sex situation for me.”
I huffed. “Then stop looking at me!”
“I can’t! Your dick is waving at me!” he whined.
I sighed and turned my back on him instead, feeling no shame whatsoever. I guess this was what being bonded was like.
“Not helping, baby. Your ass is beckoning me, too.” Damn him. I wasn’t about to have a boner with a bird watching me. That was just weird.
Reaching the bag that had my clothes in it, I quickly donned a pair of boxers. Feeling much better now that I was somewhat dressed, I looked over my options and put on some comfy pants and a soft long-sleeved t-shirt. We wouldn’t be leaving the room before our familiars had left, which meant I just needed to be comfortable. Xarius had begun dressing as well, pouting once again over the lack of sex.
“Which one do you think is mine?” he asked, walking over to where I stood.
“No idea,” I replied, looking over both animals. “Maybe we share them?”
“Hmm,” he said, moving to the other end of the room. The ostrich followed. I walked into the bathroom, trying to see if itfollowed me, too. It didn’t. The snow leopard came in behind me, and sitting down it looked up at me with beautiful blue eyes, awaiting my command.
“So, that answers that,” I said, mostly to myself as I looked closer at the snow leopard. He was stunning. I had to name him something, but I found that I wanted to name them with Xarius. In my mind, they wereourfamiliars, and even if they each answered to one of us, we still shared them.
